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Patsy Cline Remembered With “American Masters” 54 Years After Her Death

Arguably one of the greatest voices in country music,

Patsy Cline would have celebrated her 85th birthday this year on Sept 8

As a tribute to Patsy, the American Masters series is honoring the country legend—who died in a plane crash 54 years ago on March 5, 1963, at the age of 30—with the world premiere of Patsy Cline: American Masters.

The documentary, narrated by Rosanne Cash, began premiering on March 4 on PBS (check local listings) as part of Women’s History month and features some of country’s leading ladies speaking about Patsy’s legacy, including LeAnn Rimes, Reba McEntire, Mickey Guyton, Wanda Jackson and Kacey Musgraves. “She came through it—the car wreck, the bad marriage, the poverty that she lived in, having to quit school and go to work. All of those things made her what she was,” Reba says about the icon.

The American Masters series, in its 31st season, examines the roots of Patsy’s impact in both personal and cultural terms to highlight how she arrived at a pivotal moment in the evolution of American culture and, with Decca Records producer Owen Bradley, synthesized country, pop and rock in a new way to create the Nashville Sound.

“It’s been such a privilege to tell the story of Patsy Cline. For me, her story exceeds her musical accomplishments. She is in a rare class of women who simply set out to achieve their dreams and through those efforts left an indelible mark,” said Emmy-nominated director and producer Barbara J. Hall.

The production highlights Patsy’s performances of classic songs such as “Walkin’ After Midnight,” “I Fall to Pieces,” and “Crazy.” Patsy, who was known as a pioneer for women in the ’50s, broke down barriers for female artists like Barbara Mandrell, Reba McEntire, Trisha Yearwood, Martina McBride, Faith Hill, Carrie Underwood, Miranda Lambert and many more to carve out country music paths of their own. “It would have been amazing to have seen how she would’ve developed,” said Wanda Jackson in the documentary. “We got cheated out of that.” Indeed we did.

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Keith Bradford Shares Funny story with Us

To be released on AirplayExpress StoryBookExpress SBX#01

When I was a very young boy either in the first or second grade, my parents had a ZENITH round screen black and white TV set. On the top of it sat the antenna or what everyone called the rabbit ears. We got a total of 3 channels and you had to stand up and adjust or move the rabbit ears every time you changed the channel in order to help clear up the fuzzy or snowy picture on the screen. My father insisted that if I didn’t quit moving the antenna that I was going to break it or mess it up where it wouldn’t work anymore.

One Saturday morning I was trying desperately to find the sweet spot with the rabbit ears in order to watch my favorite cartoon where I could at least see the picture somewhat clearly. For whatever reason that morning it never did clear up and so I switched it to a channel that was at least visible. It was a re-run of The Milton Berle Show from the previous weekend.

My father came storming into the room and screamed his lungs out at me. He said now you done it. You finally broke the TV. That show that is playing was on last week. I told you a thousand times to leave it alone. Of course I didn’t break anything and from that day on he came to enjoy the meaning of the word a re-run and often tuned into the Network re-runs if he missed the original broadcast.

By the way we kept that old TV set until the picture tube finally went out. In its final years we even learned how to wrap the rabbit ears with aluminum foil for even better reception.

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Brett Eldredge Surprises Fans in Vegas with “CMT Instant Jam”

CMT and Brett Eldredge joined forces to surprise fans in Las Vegas on Thursday night with a free concert at The Chelsea at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas as part of the network’s pop-up concert music series, INSTANT JAM. For the lucky fans who were able to attend the exclusive show, they were treated to high-energy performances including “Drunk On Your Love,” “Beat of the Music,” and Eldredge’s latest single, “Somethin’ I’m Good At.” “CMT Instant Jam: Brett Eldredge” premieres Friday, June 23 at 10pm ET/PT.

Each episode of “Instant Jam” features live performances and captures all the excitement and energy as artists reveal to fans how to score tickets to an exclusive show in their area, while giving a behind-the-scenes look at the hours leading up to their concert. Previous “Instant Jam’s” have included Kenny Chesney, Carrie Underwood, Florida Georgia Line, Darius Rucker, Hunter Hayes and Dierks Bentley.